Method and apparatus for supporting a semiconductor wafer during processing

ABSTRACT

A semiconductor wafer is processed while being supported without mechanical contact. Instead, the wafer is supported by gas streams emanating from a large number of passages in side sections positioned very close to the upper and lower surface of the wafer. The gas heated by the side sections and the heated side sections themselves quickly heat the wafer to a desired temperature. Process gas directed to the “device side” of the wafer can be kept at a temperature that will not cause deposition on that side section, but yet the desired wafer temperature can be obtained by heating non-process gas from the other side section to the desired temperature. A plurality of passages around the periphery of the wafer on the non-processed side can be employed to provide purge gas flow that prevents process gas from reaching the non-processed side of the wafer and the adjacent area of that side section.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.09/717,702, filed Nov. 20, 2000 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,613,685, which is acontinuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/227,564, filed Jan. 8, 1999(U.S. Pat. No. 6,183,565, issued Feb. 6, 2001), which is acontinuation-in-part of International Application No. PCT/NL97/00398,filed Jul. 8, 1997, which claims priority from Netherlands Patent Appln.No. 1003538, filed Jul. 8, 1996.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method for contactless treatment of asubstrate such as a semiconductor wafer, comprising enclosing the waferin an apparatus and applying two gas streams, in opposing directions,from first and second side sections located opposite on another, to thetwo opposing planar sides or surfaces of the wafers.

A method of this general type is disclosed in Netherlands Laid OpenApplication 8402410, in which furthermore, reference is made toNetherlands laid Open Applications 8103979, 8200753 and 8203318.

From these publications it is known to position a wafer such that it isfloating between the two side sections. If the gas flow is suitablychosen, it has been found that a highly accurate definition of theposition of the wafer with respect to the side sections is possible andthis position is relatively fixed, that is to say little variationoccurs in the position of the wafer with respect to the side sections.In the patent publications concerned it is described that the wafer issubjected to a wet treatment and is then possibly dried. For thepurposes of drying, the gas which holds the wafer in place is heated toabout 100° C. and is moved over the surface of the wafer, as a result ofwhich the moisture present is automatically removed.

Heating to much higher temperatures in the range of 200°-1200° C. isfrequently necessary when treating semiconductor substrates. Heating caninvolve annealing or raising the temperature to make deposition or otherprocesses possible. In the prior art, wafers are to this end placed infurnaces and then heated. Although this method is adequate, it has atleast two disadvantages. Firstly, a method of this type is usually notcompletely contactless, that is to say certain points of the wafer aresupported. Secondly, it takes a relatively long time to heat a wafer.This is due not so much to the thermal capacity of the wafer itself asto the relatively slow heat transfer between the furnace and the wafersand to the fact that in order to achieve a controlled, deformation freeheating of the wafers, the wafers need to be heated inside the furnacetogether with the furnace itself

In order to solve this problem single wafer systems have been disclosedwith which rapid heating was achieved with the aid of high power lamps(50-80 Kw). Such a method is particularly expensive and difficult tocontrol.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,622,918 discloses an apparatus wherein a wafer is fedthrough between a number of columns located some distance apart. Sets ofcolumns located opposite one another, between which the wafer moves, arelikewise some distance apart. In the gap between the sets of columns,heating is effected by means of a lamp some distance away. Thisapparatus has the drawback that due to the presence of many metal partswith complicated constructions in close proximity to the wafer, onlyheating to limited temperatures is possible. Furthermore, in thisapparatus a wafer is supported by a plurality of columns of air streamswith gaps in between the columns. Due to the succession of columns,where the wafer is supported, and gaps between the columns where thewafer is exposed to the heat radiation of the lamps, both the support ofthe wafer and the heating are not homogeneous.

It has been found that only limited heating can take place effectivelyby heating the gases, as is described in the above-mentioned Netherlandsapplications.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The aim of the present invention is to provide a method with whichcontactless heating of semiconductor substrates to relatively hightemperature within a relatively short time is possible.

This aim is achieved by enclosing a wafer between relatively massiveside sections of an apparatus and applying gas streams to oppositeplanar sides of a wafer. Preferably the side sections include plateshaving a minimum thickness of about 10 mm with the spacing between eachof the side sections and the wafer to be at most about 1.0 mm Further,at least one of the side sections is heated to a temperature higher than200° C.

Surprisingly, it has been found that if the spacing between the sidesections, or between side section and wafer, is set to be relativelysmall, particularly rapid heat transfer can take place. It is possibleto achieve heating to far about 1000° C. within a few seconds. Becausewith this arrangement the wafer, in principle, does not have to besupported, but is held accurately and definitively in its place by thegas streams, the wafer will also not be subjected to stresses generatedby local temperature differences and distortion will be prevented as faras possible. Incidentally, it is pointed out that if a slight degree ofdistortion does take place, the stabilizing effect of the gas streams inopposing directions is such that the wafer is pressed straight in a‘gentle’ manner without damage.

Therefore, it is now possible to keep the apparatus at the processtemperature and load the wafer while the side sections are at processtemperature without damage for the wafer. As a consequence, aparticularly small peak power is needed to achieve such rapid heating ofwafer because the energy required to heat the wafer is withdrawn fromthe side sections. It will be understood that the method described aboveis outstandingly suitable for processes in which wafers are treatedone-by-one (‘single wafer processing’). However, it is also possible totreat large numbers of wafers one after the other or parallel to oneanother in the manner described above.

Introduction of the wafer into the enclosing apparatus described abovecan be effected in any way known from the prior art. A particularlysimple method is that in which the side sections can be moved apart. Thewafer can be placed between the side sections when the latter have beenapart. Supporting means can optionally be present to fix the wafer insuch a position. The side sections then move towards one another and thefunction of the supporting means can be taken over by the gas streammoving out of the side sections concerned. As a result, the wafer movesaway from the supporting means.

Apart from heating the semiconductor substrate in this way it is alsopossible to carry out treatments on the substrate, such as oxidationetching or the deposition of layers. to this end it is possible to mix agaseous medium with the gas which holds the wafer in its place. Ofcourse, it is also possible to position the wafer using process gasonly. This is in contrast to what is described and suggested in theabove-mentioned Netherlands Applications, where only wet treatment ofthe related substrate takes place. This process gas can be supplied,uniformly distributed, from one of the side sections, such that auniform distribution over the related wafer surface takes place.

One of the problems encountered in the prior art when supplying processgas at elevated temperature and more particularly when depositing layersis that the apparatus and more particularly when depositing layers isthat the apparatus used to supply the process gas becomes contaminatedby deposition of the material concerned from the process gas. This meansthat apparatuses of this type have to be cleaned regularly and thatmajor problems arise with regard to clogging.

With the method according to the invention it is possible to preventthese problems. This is because, according to a further embodiment ofthis method, a temperature difference is applied over the wafer. One ofthe side sections is heated to a relatively high temperature, whilst theother of the side sections is heated to a relatively low temperature. Ithas been found that, as a result of the thermal behavior of theenclosing apparatus, the wafer will assume a temperature which isdependent on the position of the wafer with respect to the two heatedside sections. If the two side sections are equidistant from the waferand the same gas is present on both sides, the temperature will fairlyaccurately be the average of the values of the temperatures of each ofthe side sections.

If, by controlling one or both gas streams, the wafer is not locatedcentrally between the two side sections, the temperature will changecorrespondingly.

If different types of gas are used, that is to say gases havingdifferent thermal conduction properties, a change in temperature willlikewise take place. For example, when argon is used on one side andhydrogen is used on the other side it has been found that transferbetween the relevant side section and the wafer is ten times between onthe side where hydrogen is supplied.

Consequently, by means of a suitable choice of the temperaturesconcerned, it is possible to provide the side section from which theprocess gas is emitted with a temperature such that no deposition takesplace on such side section, whilst the wafer is at a temperature whichis so much higher that deposition does take place on such wafer.

It has been found that the rate of deposition of, for example,polysilicon from silane on a substrate is lower by a factor of 350 at700 K and a partial pressure of 0.4 torr than at 900 K. This means thatby controlling the temperature, deposition is negligible on the sidesection from which the process gas is supplied and which is at lowtemperature.

With this arrangement it is possible, in the starting position, to placethe wafer with the ‘device side’ of the wafer towards the side sectionwhich is at the lowest temperature, through which side section theprocess gas is subsequently supplied. As a result of supplying thereactive gases, the wafer is moved towards the side section at thehigher temperature and, on assuming the higher temperature, depositionaccordingly, takes place. The reverse set-up is also possible. That isto say, the side section from which the gas emanates is at a highertemperature than the opposite side section. In this case, the ‘deviceside’ of the wafer faces the side section which is at the lowertemperature and the Bernoulli principle can be used by allowing thecorrect gas stream to flow against the top of the wafer. With thisarrangement a reduced pressure is created beneath the wafer, whichreduced pressure ensures that the wafer will float (in a stable manner)beneath the top side section. The hot (bottom) side section is thenraised until the process situation is achieved.

It has been found that appreciable temperature differences between therelated side section and the wafer are possible using the constructiondescribed above. A value of at least 150° C. and more particularly 200°C. may be mentioned by way of example.

With the method according to the invention, these values can be set veryaccurately. After all, it has been found that these values are mainlydependent on the position of the wafer in the enclosing apparatus. Asalready indicated above, the position of the wafer in the tunnel-likeapparatus is accurately related to the quantity and type of gas suppliedfrom the related side sections.

The invention also relates to an apparatus with which the above methodcan be carried out in all its alternative embodiments. In this apparatusat least one of the side sections is provided with heating means forheating the section(s) to above 250° C. It has been found thatrelatively small peak power is needed to achieve relatively fast heatingof a wafer. It is in particular the high thermal capacity of the sidesection concerned, which is of importance for the stability of theprocess.

The related side section can be provided with a number of spaced gasfeed channels in order to provide uniform metering of the gas and moreparticularly process gas.

In a simple embodiment which is particularly suitable for depositionpurposes, a very large number of injection points must be present. Aconstruction of this type can, for example, be achieved by providingporous plates.

The invention will be explained below with reference to an illustrativeembodiment shown in the drawing. In the drawing:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows diagrammatically, an apparatus according to the inventionin the position in which the semiconductor substrate is introduced.

FIG. 2 shows part of the apparatus after introduction of thesemiconductor substrate; and

FIG. 3 shows a graph in which the rate of heating of the semiconductorsubstrate is shown for the apparatus according to FIGS. 1 and 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In FIG. 1, the apparatus according to the invention is indicated in itsentirety by 1. This apparatus is provided with an inlet 4, which can beconnected, in a manner not shown in more detail, to a ‘load lock’ or acluster system for further treatment of semiconductor substrates.

The actual apparatus according to the invention, consisting of top andbottom or first and second side sections 6 and 7, respectively, isaccommodated in a pressure vessel 2 for carrying out a process in aspecific environment or under elevated or reduced pressure.

The first side section 6 is joined rigidly to the pressure vessel 2. Aheating coil 8, which is connected to a control 5, is mounted inside thefirst side section. A gas supply line 12 is also present, which gassupply line is connected to the gas feeds 10 which comprise a number ofuniformly distributed passages.

It must be understood that in practice a very much larger number ofpassages will generally be used, which passages are each very muchsmaller than is shown. For the sake of clarity, the various featureshave been shown in exaggerated form in the drawing. It is desirable thatthere be at least 20 holes for a 200 mm diameter wafer and preferablythere would be about 64. With a larger wafer there should of course bemore passages. The hole diameter should be no greater than about 2 mm,and preferably is about 25 mm.

Side section 6 is provided at its periphery with centering chamfers 13.As can be seen from FIG. 2, these serve for enclosure of a semiconductorsubstrate or wafer 3 by extending beyond the periphery of the wafer.

Second side section 7 is constructed correspondingly. Supporting pins 11for supporting the semiconductor substrate extend through the secondside section 7.

As can be seen from FIG. 2, the various features are so dimensioned thatwhen the two side sections are in the closed position, that is to say inthe position in which the spacing between each of the sections and thewafer is set to be at most about 1 mm, the semiconductor substrate 3 isno longer supported by the supporting pins 11 but by the gas streamswhich flow through the holes 10 towards the semiconductor substrate 3from both side sections.

It will be understood that the various features are dependent on theapplication concerned.

Gas passages 10 in the second side section 7 are connected to a gassupply line 14, which is connected to a source 15.

The apparatus described above functions as follows:

Starting from the situation shown in FIG. 1, the wafer 3 is placed onthe supporting pins 11, as is also shown in FIG. 2. The second sideSection 7 is then moved up and the situation as shown in FIG. 2 isobtained. The wafer 3 is accurately positioned in the center between thetwo side sections 6 and 7 by the gas streams issuing from the passages10 in the two side sections. Deviation in the position is possible bymeans of adjusting the gas flow.

The side sections are preferably formed by relatively massive plates soas to have high heat capacity. Plates should have a minimum thickness ofabout 10 mm, and preferably about 60 mm. The side sections are heated bythe heating elements 8 and 9, and it has been found that this heat istransferred to the wafer with negligible loss. In practice, it has beenfound that almost immediately after it enters the gap between the sidesections 6 and 7 the wafer assumes the temperature thereof. This is in asituation in which the temperature of the side sections 6 and 7 isidentical. Such an example is shown in FIG. 3. In this case both sidesections have been heated to a temperature of approximately 1200° C. Ithas been found that the wafer 3 has the same temperature within fourseconds. Because the wafer 3 is not supported and is heated uniformly,no thermal stresses will be produced as a result of which there is noquestion of distortion.

At such an elevated temperature it is possible to anneal the wafer or tocarry out an oxidizing reducing treatment. In the latter case therelevant gases are supplied as process gases through the passages.

Apart from furnaces, radiation lamps are also used in the prior art, thewafer being positioned on, a bearing surface. Apart from theabove-mentioned risk of distortion as a result of non-uniform heatingcaused by removal of heat to the support point, the heating rate isrelatively slow. Values of 5-10°/s are not uncommon if the wafer is on asusceptor. In all other cases,m values of 50-100°/s have been found.

In certain cases it is, however, desirable to subject the wafer to adeposition treatment. The case in which a process gas, from whichmaterial has to deposit on the wafer, is present in source 15 is chosenas an example here. To prevent the passages 10 in the second sidesection 7 from becoming clogged by premature deposition of material fromthe process gas concerned, it is proposed to bring the first sidesection 6 to a relatively high temperature and the second side section 7to a relatively low temperature with the aid of control 5.

If, for example, for polysilicon the deposition temperature of materialfrom the silane gas issuing from source 15 is 625° C. (900 K), it isproposed to heat the first side section 6 to a temperature of 1100 K andthe second side section 7 to a temperature of approximately 700 K. At700 K virtually no deposition of material from the gas will take place,so that the passages 10 concerned will not clog. However the wafer isfound accurately to assume a temperature which is midway between that ofthe first side section 6 and that of the second side section 7, thisbeing the desired temperature of 900 K. As a result of the flow of thegases shown (FIG. 2), it is largely precluded that gas issuing from thesecond side section 7 will enter the first hot side section 6 anddeposit there. In any event it has not been found that passages 10 inthe first side section 6 clog.

In the case of a deposition treatment of this type it is not uncommonfirst to supply an inert gas and then to supply the treatment gas. Thisis represented symbolically by showing a number of gas bottles at 15 andthe quantity or mixing ratio or type of gas supplied to the line 12 or14 can be controlled by means of control means, which are not shown inmore detail.

Close to the end sections of the side sections, the upper side sectionis provided with a large number of gas passages, whilst this it not thecase for side section 7. In this way an accurately controlled gas purgeflowing radially outwards can be provided and deposition on section 6prevented.

If the side section 7 is at a lower temperature, it is not necessary touse the pins described above. The wafer can be placed directly on sidesection 7. In such a case it is not even desirable to use pins, becausein a set up of this type the ‘device side’ faces downwards.

It has been found that a very small amount of gas is needed with themethod described above. An amount of between 0.1 and 25 liters persecond under standard conditions under a pressure in the vessel which isbetween 1 torr and 1 atom may be mentioned here as an example. Thevarious aspects are wholly dependent on the process conditions.

When the treatment is compete, the side sections can be moved away fromone another again and the wafer removed. Cooling takes place equally asrapidly as heating without any damage over the entire extent of thewafer.

It must be understood that the relative sizes shown in the figures areincorrect and have been introduced for the sake of clarity. Thus, thediameter of a typical wafer is approximately 150-200 mm and thethickness approximately 0.7 mm. The distance between a wafer and thesurface of the relevant side sections from which gases issue is of theorder of magnitude of one or a few tenths of millimeters.

It is possible to impose a rotary movement on the wafer, as a result ofwhich an even more uniform treatment is provided.

Such a rotation can, for example, be achieved by positioning one or moreof the channels 10 at an angle with respect to the vertical, as a resultof which a spiral gas flow is generated.

These and further variants are obvious to a person skilled in the artafter reading the above description and fall within the scope of theappended claims.

We claim:
 1. A pair of blocks for a reactor for thermal processing of asubstrate, comprising: a first reactor block configured to extend acrossa top major surface of the substrate, the first reactor block having afirst plurality of gas passages configured to face the top majorsurface, wherein the first reactor block has a thickness perpendicularto the substrate of greater than about 10 mm; a second reactor blockconfigured to extend across a bottom major surface of the substrate, thesecond reactor block having a second plurality of gas passagesconfigured to face the bottom major surface, wherein the second reactorblock has a thickness perpendicular to the substrate of greater thanabout 10 mm; and wherein the first and the second reactor blocks areconfigured to surround a substrate with gas cushions to suspend thesubstrate between the first and the second reactor blocks upon assemblyof the first and the second reactor blocks in the reactor and uponretention of the substrate therebetween.
 2. The pair of blocks of claim1, wherein a first spacing between the first reactor block and the topmajor surface of the substrate and a second spacing between the secondreactor block and the bottom major surface of the substrate when asubstrate occupies a space between the first reactor block and thesecond reactor block are at most about 1.0 mm upon assembly of the firstand the second reactor blocks in the reactor and upon retention of thesubstrate therebetween.
 3. The pair of blocks of claim 1, wherein atleast one of the first or second blocks further comprises a resistiveheater, the heater capable of heating the at least one of the first orsecond blocks to at least about 200° C. to thereby heat the substrate.4. The pair of blocks of claim 3, wherein the heater is positioned andconfigured to heat the block to at least about 250° C.
 5. The pair ofblocks of claim 4, wherein the heater is positioned and configured toheat the block to at least about 1,000° C.
 6. The pair of blocks ofclaim 5, wherein the heater is positioned and configured to heat theblock to about 1,200° C.
 7. The pair of blocks of claim 3, wherein theheater comprises a heating coil.
 8. The pair of blocks of claim 7,wherein the heater is configured to heat the substrate from anon-reactive temperature to a reactive temperature for treating thesubstrate.
 9. The pair of blocks of claim 1, wherein thesubstrate-holding blocks are configured to have sufficient heat capacityso that, when heated, heat is transferred to an unheated substrateloaded between the substrate-holding blocks with negligible temperatureloss from the substrate-holding blocks.
 10. The pair of blocks of claim1, wherein the first and second plurality of gas passages each comprisesat least 20 holes.
 11. The pair of blocks of claim 10, wherein the holeseach have a diameter of no more than about 2 mm.
 12. The pair of blocksof claim 1, wherein the first plurality of gas passages are distributedacross first reactor block to produce a uniform distribution of gas tothe top major surface and the second plurality of gas passages aredistributed across the second reactor block to produce a second uniformdistribution of gas to the bottom major surface upon assembly of thefirst and the second reactor blocks in the reactor and upon retention ofthe substrate therebetween.
 13. The pair of blocks of claim 1, whereinthe first plurality of gas passages extends closer towards a firstperimeter of the first reactor block than the second plurality of gaspassages extends to a second perimeter of the second reactor block. 14.The pair of blocks of claim 1, wherein the first reactor block has afirst centering chamfer configured to surround an edge of the substrateand the second reactor block has a second centering chamfer configuredto also surround the edge of the substrate.
 15. A wafer-holding blockfor supporting a wafer inside a reactor, comprising: a wall having aplanar surface for facing the wafer, the planar surface at least as wideas a major surface of the wafer; and a plurality of gas passages on theplanar surface, the gas passages configured to supply gas to the majorsurface of the wafer, wherein an opening of each of the gas passages isno more than about 2 mm in width, wherein the wafer-holding block isconfigured to interface with a second wafer-holding block positionedopposite the wafer-holding block such that the wafer-holding blockextends across the major surface of the wafer and the secondwafer-holding block extends across an opposite major surface of thewafer upon assembly of the reactor and retention of the wafer.
 16. Thewafer-holding block of claim 15, wherein the wall is at least about 10mm deep.
 17. The wafer-holding block of claim 15, wherein the wall isabout 60 mm deep.
 18. The wafer-holding block of claim 15, wherein thewall comprises porous plates, wherein the porous plates provide the gaspassages.
 19. The wafer-holding block of claim 15, wherein the gaspassages are configured to be connected to a source of gas fordeposition on the wafer.
 20. The wafer-holding block of claim 19,wherein the opening of each of the plurality of gas passages is about0.25 mm in width.
 21. The wafer-holding block of claim 15, wherein theplurality of gas passages comprises at least 20 holes.
 22. Thewafer-holding block of claim 21, wherein the plurality of gas passagescomprises about 64 holes.
 23. The wafer-holding block of claim 21,wherein at least some of the gas passages are configured to be in gascommunication with a source gas for a process selected from the groupconsisting of oxidation, etching and deposition.
 24. The wafer-holdingblock of claim 15, wherein the wafer-holding block is provided with aheater.
 25. The wafer-holding block of claim 15, wherein thewafer-holding block is configured to interface with the secondwafer-holding block wafer upon assembly of the reactor and retention ofthe wafer so that a first spacing between the wafer-holding block and afirst major surface of the wafer and a second spacing between the secondwafer-holding block and a second major surface of the wafer when a waferoccupies a space between the wafer-holding block and the secondwafer-holding block are at most about 1.0 mm.
 26. The wafer-holdingblock of claim 25, configured to be movable relative to the secondwafer-holding block.
 27. The wafer-holding block of claim 25, massiveenough that, when each of the wafer-holding blocks have been heated to atemperature of approximately 1200° C., an unheated semiconductor waferloaded therebetween reaches substantially the same temperature withinfour seconds of loading.